JOHNSBURG – A digital collection of about 70 magazines will become available to Johnsburg Public Library patrons in a couple of weeks, its executive director said.

The Zinio subscription is part of the $10,000 added to the electronic resources budget, which was approved as part of the overall budget for the year at the library district board of trustees’ meeting Aug. 20.

The library paid off its mortgage over the 2011-12 fiscal year, freeing up some of the library’s resources for expenditures such as these, she said.

The village of Johnsburg has plans to build a sidewalk connecting the library with nearby James C. Bush Elementary School, 2117 W. Church St., via West Fairview Avenue.

Some of the library’s capital improvement dollars will go toward connecting the library’s sidewalks with that extension, as well as hooking up the library to the village’s sewer system when the village finishes that improvement.

The district “had carry over from one year to the next, but to do major capital improvements like that was difficult,” Zawacki said.

Another item on the board’s to-do list once the mortgage was paid off was to bring employees’ salaries in line with other area libraries, she said, adding that staff members were “very much underpaid.”

Zawacki conducted a survey of salaries last year, and employees will receive increases of 2 percent to 6 percent depending on where their salary fell compared with other similar positions.

The Johnsburg Public Library has 13 full-time and part-time employees.